'Over a million' abuse images found on phone of UK man who drugged, raped wife: prosecutor

Published Updated
0
A Union Jack is flown outside Westminster Magistrates' Court, in London, Britain on Nov 4, 2025. — Reuters/File
A Union Jack is flown outside Westminster Magistrates' Court, in London, Britain on Nov 4, 2025. — Reuters/File

A man who drugged and raped his wife over two decades and allegedly invited strangers to participate had “over a million photographs and videos” on his phone cataloguing the abuse, a UK court heard on Monday.

The court in Manchester, northwest England, is hearing the trial of nine men accused of various sexual offences against a woman who was abused by her husband — a man in his 60s who cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity.

The husband filmed and shared images of the abuse on the “internet and social media applications” with “other like-minded men”, prosecutor Louise Oakley told the court.

Some of the defendants allegedly “hid behind a screen” and conspired with the husband over the years to administer substances to the woman so she could be “used and abused”.

And starting 2023, the prosecutor said, the husband began inviting men around to their home and filmed himself and others raping her while she was unconscious.

It is the second case involving a man accused of inviting strangers to take part in abusing his wife currently being heard in Britain. A trial in Winchester in the south involving four men opened last week.

Global awareness of the crime, known as organised drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA), has grown following the high-profile conviction in France of Dominique Pelicot, who drugged and raped his then-wife Gisele for nearly a decade alongside strangers.

Oakley told the jury in Manchester that the husband’s phone, which was seized when he was arrested, was like a “confession booth” including “barbaric sexual fantasies” going back to 2004.

“There were over a million photographs and videos cataloguing not only his abuse of his wife but abuse on her committed by others, including those in the dock today,” Oakley said.

“There is no doubt he lived a double life masked in respectability,” the prosecutor said.

The husband pleaded guilty in September to some 60 sexual offences against his wife, including administering a substance with intent to stupefy or overpower her.

He and 13 other men are accused of conspiring to abuse the woman. Four of the men have since pleaded guilty to various offences.

The remaining nine men, aged between 28 and 70, deny various charges including rape, sexual assault and conspiracy to administer a substance with intent.

They include a taxi driver, a recruitment agency worker, a building supplies worker and a senior medic.

Opinion

Editorial

An opening
Updated 03 Nov, 2026

An opening

If this brief opportunity for peace is wasted, sparking a wider conflict, the blame will rest squarely with the US president and the bloodthirsty Zionist regime.
Pakistan’s G-24 role
03 Nov, 2026

Pakistan’s G-24 role

PAKISTAN’S new role as chair of G-24 comes at a crucial moment for the Global South. Developing nations are...
Learning from polio
03 Nov, 2026

Learning from polio

THE eighth polio case of 2026, involving a 13-month-old girl from Khyber’s Bara tehsil, raises an important...
Without consequence
Updated 02 Nov, 2026

Without consequence

From drone attacks to online harassment and legal intimidation, the methods of silencing reporters are multiplying, with little fear of punishment.
Climate diagnosis
02 Nov, 2026

Climate diagnosis

THE Lancet Countdown’s latest findings should change how Pakistan thinks about illness as much as how it thinks...
Fighting harassment
02 Nov, 2026

Fighting harassment

WORKPLACE harassment is often narrowly defined as sexual misconduct. A resolution passed by the National Assembly on...